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ADDRESS OF MARTIN P. KENNARD, 



IN BEHALF OF THE SUBSCRIBING CITIZENS, ON PRESENTATION 
TO THE TOWN OF A 



MEMORIAL PORTRAIT 



OF THE LATE 



BRIG.-GEN1 EDWARD AUGUSTUS WILD, 



TOGETHER WITH THE 



RESPONSE OF THE CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD OF SELECTMEN, 

AND THE IMPROMPTU REMARKS OF OTHER 

GENTLEMEN PRESENT. 



\ 



BROOKLINE, MASS.: 

PRINTED FOR THE TOWN. 

1894. 



\ 




x 




BRIGADIER-GENERAL EDWARD AUGUSTUS WILD. 

From a painting by J. Harvey Young. 

The head a study from a photograph taken in 1863. 



ADDRESS OF MARTIN P. KENNARD, 



IN BEHALF OF THE SUBSCRIBING CITIZENS, ON PRESENTATION 
TO THE TOWN OF A 



MEMORIAL PORTRAIT 



(IF THK l.All!: 



BRIG.-GENl EDWARD AUGUSTUS WILD, 



TUUKTHEK WfTH ['HK 



RESPONSE OF THE CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD OF SELECTMEN, 

AND THE IMPROMPTU REMARKS OF OTHER 

GENTLEMEN PRESENT. 



BROOKLINE, MASS.: 
PRINTED FOR THK TOWN". 

1894. 



.1 



UHOnKLINE, MASS. : 

PKtSS OF C. A. W. SPENCER, 

HARVARD Sqj;ARE. 



The Great Civil War of 1 86 1-5 in the United States will ever hold 
a conspicuous place in the world's history, for its magnitude, and as 
one inevitable in the moral advancement and civil progress of its 
time. 

This inadequate portrayal of the remarkable career and character 
of Edward Augustus Wild, a cherished son of Brookline, as set forth 
in the following pages, with the presentation to the town of his 
memorial portrait, May 24th, 1893, was not prompted by a too zealous 
partisanship or from the partiality of social relations, but because of 
his unalloyed patriotism and his signal service in that contention, in 
the cause of the Union, and when under its strain the administration 
of Abraham Lincoln called for the aid of loyal men. 

The initial steps for this presentation were informally taken by the 
following well-known citizens, General Wild's cotemporaries, fiimiliar 
with his life, and who thus realized the pubhc duty Of giving him 
exemplary permanence in the annals of the town, viz. : Edward 
Atkinson, William I. Bowditch, John W. Candler, William L. Candler, 
Dr. Tappan E. Francis, Willard V. Gross, Charles E. Hapgood, 
Martin P. Kennard, Albert L. Lincoln, Jr., James P. Stearns and 
Fergus B. Turner. 

At the meeting of this self-acting committee the subject was 
delegated to a sub-committee with full powers, consisting of Mr. 
Kennard, Mr. Lincoln, and Col. William L. Candler. 

The suggestions of these gentlemen were readily responded to by 
the generous contributions of the citizens at large, and it is gratifying 
that the town authorities, in concert with the popular feeling, supple- 
mented this action by the publication of the proceedings at the 
expense of the town. 

M. P. K. 

December, 1S93. 



ADDRESS OF MARTIN R KENNARD. 



Mr. Chainnan of the Selectmen, the Trustees oj the Public Library, 
anil Felhnv- Citizens : 

In conformity with the patriotic and well-timed thought of the 
Chandler Post, G. A. R., of this town, that some appreciative 
memorial of Hrookline's distinguished son, the late General F^dward 
Augustus Wild, should be considered, a meeting of a number of 
our citizens was called to confer upon the subject. This conference, 
with warm unanimity, deemed it desirable to perpetuate, as far as 
possible, the interesting personality of a citizen who had won such 
renown, by a commemorative portrait of him for a gift to the town, 
to be tendered as a spontaneous and enduring tribute of his fellow- 
citizens to his virtues and valor. It was also their wish that this 
portrait, with your permission, should be placed in this hall of the 
Public Library, in the custody of its Trustees, and to that end the 
gracious duty of its presentation was delegated to a committee 
with full powers. 

That committee, Mr. Chairman, I have now the honor to repre- 
sent, and while its obligations are in some degree pleasurable, still 
the occasion comes tinged with the shadow of another and a more 
recent sorrow. He of this committee, and the one of us all who 
from his long intimacy and affectionate admiration for his comrade, 
having achieved with him much signal service in the field, whose 
amiable and unselfish interest in this object gave inspiration to his 
colleagues, and to whom they looked as the one especially fitted for 
this duty, which has now unhappily devolved upon me, has, pending 
the consummation of this felicity, suddenly been called to join the 
innumerable army that has passed into the infinite silence. 

The inseparable names of General Edward A. Wild and Colonel 
William L. Candler are thus in the order of events entwined anew 
in our regard, and with added reason associated in our local annals. 



Ordinarily, it would be well-nigh superfluous for me, here in 
this presence, or indeed in Brookline, to dilate upon the achieve- 
ments of General Wild, or otherwise than succinctly allude to his 
citizenship and interesting military record. 

But, Mr. Chairman, in the swift flight of time a generation has 
passed since the advent of that grievous epoch, when the guns of a 
misguided and rebellious State were trained on Fort Sumter, and a 
slave-holding oligarchy threw down the gauntlet of war against our 
union of States and the Presidency of Abraham Lincoln ; and, 
therefore, a brief and incidental mention of General Wild's ex- 
traordinary career, marked especially by his early enlistment in the 
defence of the Union, and his uncompromising and patriotic devo- 
tion thereto until its establishment was assured, may be pardoned on 
this occasion. 

General Wild was descended from old English stock. He was born 
in Brookline, Nov. 25, 1825, and, like his pleasantly remembered 
father, the late Charles Wild, M. D., of this town, was a graduate of 
Harvard College. His class was that of 1844. He studied medicine 
and began its practice here in 1847. He, however, went abroad 
for study, and for further hospital experience, in 1848, and during a 
rejuvenating pedestrian tour in Switzerland was tempted to go down 
into Italy. Europe was then in the throes of a halting republicanism, 
and many dynasties seemed to be tottering. It was an interesting and 
exceptional era of political unrest. Louis Philippe had been dethroned, 
and France was an incipient republic under the lead of Lamartinc 
and his associates, while Louis Napoleon had not yet by his audacity 
beguiled that people to accept his presidency, under the leverage of 
which, in his selfish ambition to found a dynasty, he subsequently 
usurped political power and grasped the imperial sceptre ! Germany 
was struggling for unity and for the setting aside of no end of petty 
monarchies and titular creations claiming inheritance of divine right, 

" Drawn from the mouldy rolls of Noah's ark." 

Frederick William the Fourth, King of Pnissia, and brother of the 
future Emperor William the First, was then busy with the stamping 
out of republican fire, and with the expatriation of such political re- 



formers as the poet Freiligrath, Carl Schurz, Reinhold Solger, Frederic 
Kapp, Professor Kinkel, and scores of others, including that irrecon- 
cilable and reckless Russian revolutiortist, Michael Bakounin. That 
illustrious republican patriot, Robert Blum, had been seized and 
brutally shot in Vienna. Kossuth and Batthyanyi were then agitating 
for the independence of Hungary, and thus vexing Austria. 

General Wild was a true representative of republican democracy 
and in sympathy with this type of men the world over, for " He 
that loves liberty confines his love for her within no narrow bounds." 

Italy was then ablaze with "the everlasting torch of freedom," 
and contending for less priestcraft, more liberty, and for a national 
unity, and Garibaldi was fanning the flame in Northern Italy in 
sympathy with Sardinia which was then in armed strife against 
Austria for the redemption of Venetia and contiguous States. It 
will also be recalled that the Roman and Neapolitan States were in 
active contention, and that the march of those events disturbed the 
Pope, who was compelled to leave Rome and take refuge in the 
fortress at Gaeta-by-the-Sea, and finally lost his temporal power with 
his political control of the Pontifical States. 

It was later in that decade that we again find that republican 
chief, after revolutionizing Sicily, virtually knocking at the door of 
the then unpopular and odious Bourbon King of the two Sicilies, in 
Naples, who hastily scampered away into Austria before the diitn, dum, 
dum of the immortal Italian and his brave Genoese and Sicilians. In 
the meanwhile, the Grand Duke of Tuscany was having sleepless 
nights in Florence, and subsequently yielded his claims to its govern- 
ment and fled to Vienna. All this, as will be remembered, ultimately 
eventuated in the fusion of those States and in a regenerated and 
united Italy under Victor Emmanuel of Sardinia. 

From General Wild's proclivity to military affairs, perhaps born 
of his enthusiasm and inherited interest in the Boston Cadet Corps, 
of which his father , had been a member, and in whose ranks for 
many years General Wild subsequently held an active place, he was no 
disinterested observer of the movements upon that European chess- 
board ; and we can therefore easily imagine his anxiety to be near the 
scene of action, and that he the more readily crossed the Alps and 



wended his way into Italy. There the military camps then included 
half a million of men, and their lines extended from Lake Garda to 
the Po ; and there, as he said, he sought opportunity to " witness a 
battle and a bombardment." 

From the meagre notes now accessible to me it is manifest that 
our traveller's animated interest in these movements led him to 
approach too near the military lines of the hostile camps, where from 
his adventurous disposition and the characfristic coolness of his 
observations, he was arrested and closely searched, first by one side 
and then by the other, as a spy from the opposite camp, and 
released only from his definite explanations, and on two occasions 
to Genera] Garibaldi personally, who discerned his true character 
and liberated him. Later, in another quarter, he was again seized as 
an Austrian emissary and robbed and very roughly treated, fortunately 
escaping with his life. This was repeated on Lake Garda, where he 
was arrested at midnight for a robber ; and still another time on the 
River Po, on the other extremity of this military line, where, in his 
adventurous desire to see Venice, he was once more seized as a 
deserter or spy by the Austrians. To all these with many other 
perilous and disagreeable experiences, in the pursuit of his purpose, 
lie exhibited an amusing indifference. Fearlessness and honesty 
were virtues ever inseparable with him. Those who knew General 
Wild intimately can correctly appreciate the exact effect of these 
episodes of exciting and unsafe adventure upon his free and 
imperturbable nature. We can easily imagine they were veritable 
amusements to him, so regardless was he of such personal detri- 
ment. To measure him by the dispositions of the most of us would, 
perhaps, bring a suggestion of eccentricity and with it a touch of 
humor that sometimes was comical. A hint of this may be pardoned 
here in confidence, as this is a family meeting. 

Our wanderer returned in 1S50, and resumed in Brookhne the 
practice of his profession, that of a homoeopathic physician, till 
1855, when he was married, and upon the declaration of the war in 
the Crimea, he then, with his bride, sailed directly for Constantinople, 
where he tendered his services as a surgeon to the Turkish govern- 
ment. They were at once accepted and he was there attached to 
the army corps of Omar Pasha, the commander-in-chief of the 



Turkish forces, with the rank and pay of lieutenant-colonel, and given 
a title prefixing that of Bey, signifying "the sincere." Here he 
saw much service, and continued for two years in charge of extensive 
military hospitals with the sick and disabled, the results of that war. 
He also acted as brigade surgeon in the Turkish forces at Trebizond 
and Batoum, and other ports on the shores of the Black Sea, 
passing the winter near the foot-hills of the Caucasus, and occupying 
the hospitals captured from the Russians. On leaving, at the close 
of the war, he was decorated with the order of the Medjidieh by 
the Sultan, .\bdul Medjid, and given a war medal, with an 
accompanying diploma, with also an autograph letter of thanks by 
Omar Pasha, his commander-in-chief 

General Wild made an extended visit to Italy again, in 1857, then 
without especial incident, I believe, although the political and military 
activity that marked that era there had not yet terminated. 

Again he resumed his medical practice in Brookline, but the stride 
of political affairs culminating in the outbreak of the warlike events 
in 1861, rekindled his military ardor and once more drew him into 
active fields of public service. It is recorded that one of the first 
acts of the Military Committee organized by tiiis town in April, 1S61, 
was '■ hiring of a hall for the purposes of a drill-hall and armory, 
where Captain Edward A. Wild, then a popular young physician in 
town, with Lieutenants Charles L. Chandler and William L. Candler 
began recruiting a company." Some of us can remember those 
early days of 1861, when with that notable ardor, conscientiously 
prompted by his strong anti-slavery convictions, he unselfishly 
abandoned the opportune inducements of his profession and pros- 
pective medical practice, and enlisted in this first Brookline 
company of volunteers, which he had aided in recruiting at the 
magnetic call of Governor Andrew, by whom he was commissioned 
as captain on May 22d, 1861. His military knowledge and excep- 
tional experience, coupled with his enthusiastic devotion to the Union 
cause, took him at once into service in the line. To the one 
nearest to him, and who said to him in a tentative way, " I sup- 
pose you will be gone but three months," his instant reply, " I 
enlist for the war," brought a sickening thrill, amid measureless but 
submissive forebodings. 



One of the first thus to respond, he with alacrity and thus 
unreservedly gave himself to the service of his country for the 
preservation of the flag with all its stars, and indeed for maintaining 
the national life. Subsequently he aided in forming the first Massa- 
chusetts regiment which was enlisted for three years, and was given 
command of Company A, which was mustered into the United States 
service in the First Massachusetts Regiment, under Col. Robert 
Cowdin. This regiment having been chiefly recruited in this town, was 
largely composed of Brookline men, a few of whom we are privileged 
to have still with us, while the records on the memorial tablets in our 
Town Hall, make up for us and for history that roll of honor. 

That was a companionable group, — a representative trio of 
Brookline's best, — that included Edward Augustus Wild, William 
Latham Candler, and Charles Lyon Chandler, the first as captain 
and the others as his lieutenants, that were primarily attached to 
this company and enlisted for three years, — pioneers with a willing 
and alert patriotism that helped to set the pace for so many others, 
and each of whom subsequently distinguished himself and earned 
and received honorable promotion. 

Colonel Chandler fell mortally wounded in the battle near Han- 
over Court House, May 24th, 18C4, and it is happily on record that 
he was kindly cared for in his last hours by Colonel Harris of the 1 2th 
Mississippi Regiment, within the enemy's lines, with a true soldierly 
courtesy, that was honorable to himself and gratifying to the kindred 
of our young officer, whose brief career was heroic, whose character 
was exemplary, and whose loss was widely and keenly felt. General 
Bartlett wrote : " Officers and men speak of Colonel Chandler's 
bravery and devotion with filling eyes. I never saw men who in so 
short a time had such feeling of admiration for any man's conduct. 
His loss was felt throughout the corps." 

Colonel Candler, in the e.xigencies of the war, was ultimately 
transferred to the" staff of the intrepid General Joseph Hooker, 
where he saw much severe service. He was with that noted and 
efficient soldier during all Hooker's career, from the time of his 
commanding a division, until he resigned as commander-in-chief 
of the Army of the Potomac, and with them there was continued a 
warm personal attachment. 



Colonel Candler was never seriously wounded, although I am told 
that in the severity of his experience he had three horses shot from 
under him, and to the end, from exposure in camp life, suffered with 
impaired health. No one took the field with more lofty purpose, 
and it is of such men it can be said truly, that they were the glory 
of the service. These soldiers did not emblazon their deeds, they 
waged war for a principle, and not as adventurers ; and wherever duty 
called or circumstances placed them, there they signalized them- 
selves with the best that was in them ; all correlative testimony bears 
witness to this. 

I have been permitted to make the following extracts from letters 
to Mrs. Wild, which indicate the exact spirit which animated Edward 
Wild when he entered the service, and therefore should have a place 
here. If there exist clearer illustrations of unselfish patriotism, I 
know not where to find them. 

"Camp Union, fiu^DENSBURG, Oct. iS, 1861. 
".As for promotion, you must recollect that I did not come out 
here to be elevated, but simply from a sense of duty, and with the 
single-hearted object to serve my country to my utmost ability, feeling 
within myself that I was the proper man to come. If I should be 
broken or be cashiered, I should immediately enlist as a private, for 
the same reason, and do my utmost in that capacity. If I should be 
promoted by those who are competent to judge, and who think that 
I could serve my country better by filling a larger sphere, I should 
obey orders, and consent to the promotion ; though it must be strong 
inducement that could draw me away from my present company and 
my present regiment, for I am proud of both. If, therefore, I should 
not be promoted, but should remain where I am, I shall not be 
disappointed, but shall continue to work on, as I only intended to 
serve during the war, and then retire again into obscurity. You must 
remember that I spoke in the same tone before leaving Brookline." 

.And again he writes, Nov. 29th, 1861, taking notice of a news- 
paper article which spoke of the deaths of Lyon, Baker, and 
Ellsworth, as " military suicide " : 

" As for me, when I am shot down, let no one put on mourning for 
me. Rather hang out the stars and stripes and be proud. Say what 
you will, I am not a rash person, neither am I so brave as one hun- 
dred thousand others ; I mean naturally and constitutionally brave. 



What courage I have conies by force of reason, and of faith, and of 
self discipline, and of determination. I pray heaven that when I 
see the need of sacrificing myself, no weakness of mine shall deter 
me." 

Such men make history, and by such patriotism and self-sacrifice 
as theirs, liberty was redeemed, and a great nation was literally 
born again. 

The pathos of that empty sleeve in the portrait before us, attests 
only remotely what General Wild was called to endure, all of which 
was unrepiningly met and borne with that gentle cheerfulness which 
was a part of his nature. 

His right hand was permanently crippled by a bullet in the 
engagement at the Seven I'ines on the field of Fair Oaks, Virginia, 
June 25th, 1862. He came home, on the invalid list, for a short time, 
but soon reported again for duty in the field. Promoted by regular 
grade to a colonelcy, in August, 1862, he took command of the 35th 
Massachusetts, and two days after proceeded to Washington with 
this regiment, and with his arm still in a sling. In three weeks 
he was with General Burnside, and in the battle of South Mountain. 
It is recorded that this new regiment there, and again three days 
later, distinguished itself by steady, determined bravery, worthy of 
veterans. 

After Hooker was wounded at the battle of .\ntietam, General 
Meade took command of Hooker's corps. When, on Sept. 14th, 
1862, the battle of South Mountain was over. Colonel Candler on 
enquiring for General Wild, learned that he was again seriously 
wounded and had been sent to the rear. His reminiscences of his 
painful search that inclement night for his loved friend were among 
the most touching to which I ever listened, and it is impossible for 
me to repeat them here. Colonel Candler, as it were, strained his 
prerogative as an officer of the staff, but taking the opportunity of 
the night, and of the temporary disorder when he was nominally off 
duty, tired and hungry, having been in incessant service in the 
saddle and without food for twenty-four consecutive hours, at length, 
after riding miles in the darkness and the wet through " Virginia 
mud," and amid those direful roads and the debris and material 



disorder incident to such a battle-field, in the early hours of the 
morning, found his comrade in a room alone in a little roadside 
shanty, where had been improvised a temporary hospital. 

His left arm had been shattered by a shell, and he was compelled 
in that condition to walk two or three miles to find shelter. He had 
submitted to three surgical amputations, and finally, to save his life, 
his arm, under his own directions, was taken off at the shoulder. 
He said, subsequently, " I told the surgeons if they found it neces- 
sary to amputate the arm, not to let me wake and find it on." 

At the sight of each other the fortitude of these friends mutually 
gave way. Upon the unexpected appearance of Candler, Wild's 
indomitable spirit yielded, and he burst into tears. I will not under- 
take to picture that meeting of these fond friends under those 
circumstances. I leave it to your imagination. Everything was 
then done that could be. for the General's comfort and to save his 
life. Thus disabled, he was sent home again in December, 1862, 
and when but partially recovered he again returned to duty and 
assisted Governor .Andrew in organizing the first colored troops. In 
April, 1863, he was promoted by President Lincoln a brigadier 
general of volunteers, and proceeded to North Carolina before 
his wound was healed. Here he raised a brigade of colored troops, 
chiefly from among the newly emancipated slaves by colonizing them, 
with headquarters at Newberne. Later, in July, he took a large 
body of these raw colored troops to South Carolina, where they 
did valuable service in the siege of Charleston. Once more 
he returned to the recruiting work at Newberne, and in January, 
1864, was in command of the district of Norfolk and Portsmouth. 
The opening of the spring campaign in May, 1864, found our 
indefatigable soldier again in the field, in command of colored 
troops, participating in the siege operations against Petersburg 
and Richmond until the autumn. During a part of this time he 
was in command of a division containing three brigades of 
infantry, besides artillery and cavalry — a portion of the 25th 
.\rmy Corps, composed wholly of colored troops, — and on tlie 
third of .April. 1865, he was among the first to enter Richmond 
as the Davis government departed forever. Subsequently he was 



14 

on duty in pursuit of the fugitive Richmond cabinet into North 
Carolina, and indeed into Georgia. Did time allow, one could 
dwell on much of agreeable anecdotal interest in the romantic and 
picturesque career of this almost unit|ue character, who, in his 
boundless devotion to his country's cause, knew no fear, and 
no interest but that of her service. On May 24, 1S64, when in 
charge of important army stores on the James River, he was sur- 
rounded by a greater force under General P'itz-Hugh Lee. This 
rebel general, in a note couched in terms of studied and direct 
formality summoned him to surrender. Wild's laconic reply was 
evidently unstudied, and so characteristically innocent of diplomacy 
that it provokes a smile. He returned the note with his endorsement, 
as follows : " We will try it. Ed. A. Wild, Brig. Gen'l Vol's." 

The struggle came and Wild was victorious in holding his position, 
although attacked from both sides of the river. Had (ieneral Lee 
known Edward .A. Wild as well as some of us, he would have 
realized how preposterous it was to make such a proposition to 
him while life lasted. 

Referring to my memoianda of conversations with General Wild, 
I find much that, could it be related here, would be interesting, — 
touching the last hours of that struggle in the rebel capital in which 
he bore a part, and of his subsequent pursuit of those fugitives. His 
later experience when in command of those raw colored troops in 
North Carolina, and further southward whither he was sent after the 
stirrender of Lee and pending the adjustment of Union jurisdiction 
in those States, is also notable. It will be remembered that as the 
Union forces approached Richmond and its evacuation was immi- 
nent, Jefferson Davis with his companions fled by train with certain 
portable property which included the specie of the banks, etc. 
They carried also an important quantity of treasure of curious 
interest, consisting of gold ornaments and silver plate, — it being con- 
tributions of the women of Richmond to the rebel treasury in its 
extremity, — some of which was distributed on the way to meet 
expenses, and bore well-known rebel names. Their progress was 
impeded and their railway connections broken, but the officials kept 
on their course, and in advance of others who prompted by the 
flight of their leaders were led to join in the general "Sar/ve qui pent." 



IS 

It having become known that the Confederacy was at an end, 
and reported that Davis had been captured, trains were pillaged by 
the confederates themselves, their soldiers, their teamsters and others, 
intent on securing their dues, or at all events their need. In Rich- 
mond the confederates who remained were destroying their records, 
their fortifications, their war material, and setting fire to their city, 
the suppression of which fell upon the Union troops. Those in 
charge of the gold of the banks temporarily secured it, although it was 
ultimately seized by General Wild in conjunction with the Freedman's 
Bureau Commission, with also a million dollars' worth of cotton. Sub- 
sequently the treasure of the banks had other claimants, but it was 
eventually turned into the treasury of the United States. General 
Wild was mustered out of the United States service January 15, 1866. 

There are many Brookhne names that find honorable place on the 
muster-rolls of that war, to which we all refer with pride, for it is on 
record that General Wild led in the list of forty-eight commissioned 
officers furnished by this town, with 880 enlisted men, which notably 
included five brothers of one family bearing the name of Richard- 
son, and four of another, bearing the name of Dwight. 

Mr. Chairman, the records of General Wild's distinguished military 
services are permanent in the archives of his state and of the nation. 
But we have thought it due to this gallant son of Brookline whom we 
are here to commemorate — as well as to ourselves, — that the features 
and individuality of such a citizen, after a career so notable, a service 
so honorable, and a history so romantic, should not be allowed to 
fade with his own generation, and without an especial recognition by 
his fellow-citizens and his contemporaries ere their own stars are set. 

I fiiin would hope that the day may come when the others of this 
trio of young Spartans who from this town so readily enlisted in the 
first fcomjiany of the First Massachusetts Regiment for that 
memorable struggle, may by their portraits likewise have place with 
the Lares and Penates of our Brookline houseliold. 

General Wild's class of Harvard University made him a compli- 
mentary presentation of a sword, at an early stage of the war, and 
again manifested their appreciation of his character by an enduring 
mural tablet of bronze in that Valhalla, the Memorial Hall of the 
University, and also by personal subscriptions for this portrait. 



i6 

Realizing that his wounds disabled him from again practising his 
profession, General Wild turned his attention to mining enterprises, 
with wide and diversified experience, more especially choosing his 
interests in California, and also about Lake Superior. He pursued 
these researches for some years with great persistency, but his 
fortunes were varied, and on the whole disappointing, and finally he 
accepted a proposition of a valued friend, to aid him in the survey 
for a railroad in an inviting country, from the Magdellena River to the 
City of Medellin. in the State of Antioquia, Republic of Colombia, 
South America. He left New York. July ist, 1891, and reached his 
destination the 30th. His old love of adventure and the novelty of 
enterprise in such a new field were the incitements for him, and asso- 
ciated with the work was a warm friendship which he enjoyed. There, 
enervated by the heat of a tropical latitude — to which he was 
imused, although living at a considerable altitude — he succumbed 
after a short residence, dying amid appreciative and loving friends, 
and, as it was written, "passed away peacefully," the 28th of August, 
1891. 

It is gratifying to relate that already during his stay in South 
America he had found many friends. Within an hour after the 
General's death, the American Vice-Consul, Seiior Lucian Santa 
Maria, courteously proffered his personal and official services, 
which were at that moment welcome. 

The Governor, Secretary of State, and the Treasurer, paid their 
official visits, and graciously tendered their services. The Com- 
mandante called, by direction of the government, tendering his 
personal services and military honors to the dead, as a General of 
a friendly nation, and while a quiet and private funeral was desired, 
his friends consented to an infantry escort. The Secretary of the 
Treasury of the State was also attentive to the last. The invitations to 
the funeral were delivered by special messengers of the government. 

These obsequies were attended by the Governor, and by all the 
officers of tiie State, who manifested their respects and paid every 
honor, conceded from the friendliness he had inspired, and regard 
due to his rank ; while the bells of the cathedral across the street 
tolled a requiem as the procession moved. 



17 

His friends there, and here at home, all hold with especial gratitude 
the gracious conduct of that government and community on that 
occasion. He had the friendly attentions of the Protestant minister 
and his wife, an American lady, who in his illness furnished him with 
delicacies, while English friends, with others, at the last laid upon 
his coffin wreaths and garlands. 

Perhaps it is not too much to say here, that that government and 
the people recognized that they were rendering funeral honors to a 
gallant Union officer who had fought and suffered for themselves, as 
well as for the Great Republic — for that Greater Republic of which 
Colombia and the United States are alike members — for the Com- 
monwealth of American Nations. 

Called unexpectedly to the preparation of these notes, I have 
been more and again more impressed with the unique nature of our 
heroic fellow-citizen and with the extraordinary and varied char- 
acter of his career, for as the common phrase goes with his intimates, 
"There was never but one Ned Wild." It is truthfully asserted that 
through his whole service in the field he never used tobacco or tasted 
intoxicating drink, not even beer. Wounded seriously and repeatedly, 
and indeed crippled, still undaunted he persistently returned to the 
service, and remained till mustered out at the very last. 

One is tempted to characterize him as the Alpha and the Omega 
of our service of that period. Let us preserve these memories and 
render lasting the example of one who, with absolute unselfishness 
and such vigorous loyalty in the great exigency, faithfully gave him- 
self to the cause of his country. 

We trust that this canvas may be treasured for its faithful por- 
traiture, as also for its artistic worth. Painted from photographs 
taken while he was in active service, it delineates an illustrious son of 
Brookline, an heroic soldier, of gentle mold, an amiable and 
exemplary citizen with a pure and unblemished record, who won 
the respect, the gratitude and the unfeigned admiration of his 
fellow-citizens. 

" When hearts, whose truth was proven. 

Like thine, are laid in earth, 
There should a wreath be woven 
To tell the world their worth." 



Acceptance of the Portrait by the Town. 



The portrait of General Wild was accepted, on behalf of the 
town of Brookline, by Mr. Horace James, chairman of the Board 
of Selectmen, who spoke as follows : — 

Mr. Chairman ami Gentlemen of the Committee hai'ing in charge 
the matter of a Memorial Portrait of the late General Wild : 
It gives me great pleasure to accept, on behalf of the town of 
Brookline, the portrait of one of her illustrious sons : the portrait of 
one who stood in the front rank of the patriotic, self-sacrificing men 
of his day and generation ; of one who at the call of his country 
did not hesitate to give up business, comfort, life itself, if need be, 
in defence of its flag and the union of States. 

The committee have expressed the wish that the portrait may be 
placed in the reading-room of the Public Library, and in charge of its 
trustees. In compliance with this wish the Selectmen request the 
Trustees of the Public Library to take charge of the portrait, and to 
place it in some conspicuous place in the reading-room, with the 
hope that those, especially the younger portion of the persons who 
may visit the room, may be prompted to enquire who and what 
manner of man he was whose memory we thus seek to perpetuate. 
And may the record of his life, and the example he has left us, 
serve to inspire all, both now and in the future, with the same senti- 
ments of patriotism and devotion to duty which we have seen 
exemplified in him. 



Acceptance by the Public Library. 



The trust was accepted, on behalf of the Pubhc Library, by 
Charles H. Drew, Esq., chairman of its Board of Trustees, who 
feelingly testified to the worth of the man whom the portrait repre- 
sented, and spoke of the efforts of such patriots as General Wild, 
which resulted in giving to us a united country. 

Other speakers, who had been intimate friends of General Wild, 
were : Hon. John W. Candler, Edward Atkinson, Clement K. 
Fay, Moses Williams, Dr. Tappan E. Francis ; Prof. Charles J. 
Capen, of the Boston Latin School, and Mr. Shattuck Hartwell, 
Harvard classmates ; Fergus B. Turner, one of the two surviving 
members of the original Brookline company now living in this 
town ; Mr. Conant, of Boston, who served throughout the war with 
General Wild, and Col. Charles E. Hapgood. 



Remarks of Hon. John W. Candler. 



I appreciate the invitation to take some part on this interesting 
occasion. It seems to me a gathering in which we all feel a sincere 
and earnest purpose, and may congratulate ourselves that another 
obligation we owe to our soldiers and posterity is being fulfilled. 
.A,lthough the number assembled this evening is not large, we know 
that we voice the patriotic sentiment of all the citizens of Brookline, 
who have never failed, when the opportunity was offered, to recognize 
the courage, the self-sacrifice and patriotism of the men they sent 
to do battle for the Union. The portrait of this heroic man will 
recall to all of us who knew him, how nobly and with what devotion 
to the cause he aided in recruiting and organizing Company A of the 
First Regiment, enlisted for three years by the State of Massachu- 
setts. 

General Wild was a marked and original character ; true to 
his convictions on all occasions, the personification of devotion to 
principle, — a man of faith, he would have died a martyr for any cause 
he believed in and espoused. He was a leader of men and called 
about him kindred spirits in his devotion to freedom and his country. 
The story of his life, which this portrait will suggest, will prove to 
be an inspiration to the highest duties of citizenship in the genera- 
tions in this town that follow us. 

My personal relations with General Wild were intimate. He was 
my neighbor, companion and friend for many years. At some 
other time I might speak of his humorous, quaint, attractive, social 
qualities ; but tonight, under the shadow of a very recent event, as I 
attempt to recall the garnered years, so many memories crowd upon 
me with which he and my family are associated that I cannot attempt 



it. I feel too much in the mood and spirit of that beautiful poem of 
Emerson's, as he revisited the old homestead in Concord : — 

" Knows he who tills this lonely lielil, 
To reap its scanty corn, 
What mystic fruit his acres yield, 
At midnight and at morn ? 

" In the long sunny afternoon. 

The plain was full of ghosts ! 
I wandered up, I wandered down, 

Beset hy pensive hosts. 

" I touch this flower of silken leaf. 

Which once our childhood knew; 
It's soft leaves wound me with a grief 
Whose balsam never grew." 

I had many associations and conferences with the officers of Com- 
pany A, and followed them with careful watchfulness on every march 
and in every battle. I will refer to only one visit to their regiment, 
which indicates how little many of us comprehended in the early 
months of the war, its magnitude and the sacrifices of the terrible 
struggle. After the battle of Bull Run, I spent a week or ten days 
with the officers of Company A, when their regiment was stationed 
at Budd's Ferry, under General Joseph Hooker, who commanded 
that brave and gallant Division of the old Third Corps. The 
regiment was in fine condition, and although they had been in 
battle, and were then often under fire, and knew something of the 
hardships and dangers of a soldier, they were all cheerful and 
hopeful, and music and amusement were part of their daily life. I 
shared it with them, and enjoyed it with them. But when the day 
came to bid them good-bye, just before the Peninsular campaign, I 
felt the parting. Five of the officers of that regiment were intimate 
friends and constant companions, — Lieut. -Col. George D. Wells, 
Major Charles P. Chandler, Capt. Edward A. Wild, ist Lieut. Wm. 
L. Candler, 2d Lieut. Charles L. Chandler. As I looked at them, 
as they stood in the sunlight on that beautiful morning on the banks 
of the Potomac, I said to myself: Some one of you I shall never see 



again. I did not tiien believe the fearful sacrifice of the war would 
claim more than one in five, but when the war was over, three of 
them had been killed on the field of battle, and Wild returned home 
to us shattered and maimed by the bullets of his foes. This incident 
connected with the history of one company, illustrates what the 
heroic men of 1861 faced, to preserve to us the union of the States. 

It is most gratifying that this portrait of General Wild is so suc- 
cessfully painted, and we have reason to congratulate the citizens of 
the town and to feel grateful to our fellow- citizen, Mr. Kennard, who, 
in giving the portrait in charge to our town government, contributes 
his comprehensive and eloquent address. We who knew General 
Wild, recognize the tribute of a friend as well as a patriotic citizen, 
who appreciated the importance of the war and all the results it 
accomplished. His address will add an interesting and valuable 
chapter to the history of the town. 

We must 'not forget, on this occasion, that every monument we 
rear, that every name we can inscribe on marble or bronze, that the 
lineaments we can have traced on canvas for future generations to 
look upon, are not personal alone to the heroic leaders, but emble- 
matical that the people hold in unfading remembrance the heroes 
they led — the rank and file that may have no monuments. 

The three commissioned officers that Brookline sent, to lead her 
soldiers on many a hard-fought field, have now all entered into the 
silence. The " sound of the trumpet and the noise of the battle " 
can reach them no more. Their record is finished. That record of 
men so brave and true, who never faltered in their duty, I believe 
will always be remembered and cherished with pride and honor by 
the citizens of the town. 



Remarks of Clement K. Fay, Esq. 



General Wild was a good many years older than I but my 
acquaintance with him began in my childhood, when he was known 
as the "Young Doctor," to distinguish him from his able and some- 
what eccentric father, the " Old Doctor." It was at a time when 
Brookline was much more rural than it is now. Its pleasant lanes 
and shady streets, bounded by old-fashioned stone walls, and its 
green fields and smiling meadows made it far more attractive, in my 
hunil)le judgment, than it is now, since it has undergone what is 
commonly called "improvement." (Applause.) 

I gratefully endorse all that has been said this evening in praise of 
General Wild's conspicuous bravery and his many other manly 
qualities, but I trust it may not seem inappropriate to recall some of 
the other traits and accomplishments of this many-sided man. He 
had a keen sense of humor and a lively appreciation of fun, and his 
hearty laugh was most contagious. 

Fiefore the war, he was the leader of a select amateur musical 
organization in BrookHne called "The Hypnophonians." This name 
was derived from two Greek words signifying " Sleep-Destroyers." 
It was a brass band and its members were well-known citizens of tlie 
town. Our worthy friend Dr. Francis, who sits on my left, was the 
president of the organization and played the triangle. Our gallant 
and beloved Colonel Candler was an enthusiastic member and could 
play on almost any instrument. Our esteemed fellow-townsman, 
Mr. James P. Stearns, played the trombone. The Hypnophonians 
used to rehearse in a vacant room over Palmer's paint shop, in an 
old wooden building which stood where Mr. Goodspeed's stable is 
now. The rehearsals were kept up to a late hour, and General 



24 

Wild used to continue his practice on the bugle as he walked up 
Washington Street to his father's house, next the Blake estate, 
regaling the inhabitants of the town with solos in the stillness of 
midnight. 

I well remember attending some of the concerts given by the 
Hypnophonians, when I was a boy, in the old Town Hall which 
stood on the site of the present one. Their repertoire was com- 
paratively limited and they did not attempt anything very ambitious 
in a musical way — at least in public. The two pieces that they 
knew and played best were the " Fireman's Fest March " and the 
"Amelia Waltzes." (Laughter.) It is needless to say that these 
two selections were sure to find a place on every programme, whether 
at a concert or serenade. Several of the inhabitants used to be 
serenaded more or less, especially those who would be most likely 
to throw open their doors and e.xtenil their hospitality to the 
members of the band. 

During the war several of the Hypnophonians, besides General 
Wild, were in active service in the field and the meetings were 
suspended for several years, but after the war they were resumed 
with the addition of several new members, among whom I had the 
honor to be counted. At these meetings it was customary to recall 
some of the experiences of the Hypnophonians before the war and 
I shall always remember, with great pleasure, the almost boyish 
interest that Cieneral Wild took in hearing and recounting them. 
His merry laugh still lingers in my ears. It was thought at first, 
after the band was reorganized, that the General, who had formerly 
played the bugle, would be unable to take an active part but with 
characteristic ingenuity he surmounted that difficulty by playing the 
bass drum and cymbals — two instruments instead of one. He 
used to put the bass drum in an arm chair and place one cymbal 
on the floor, tying the other one to his foot, so that he could beat 
on both at the same time. 

One night, before the war, the Hypnophonians started out to 
serenade Mr. Moses Williams, the father of my life-long friend and 
contemporary who is here with us to-night and who bears the same 
honored name. That name was then, as it is now, the synonym in 



25 

our town for genial and generous hospitality. It was to be a 
serenade of more than ordinary interest as they were to try, for the 
first time, a patent lamp which was fastened to the breast of each 
member so that he could see the notes of the music. They 
assembled in Mr. Williams' orchard, under the window, and began 
as usual with the "Fireman's Fest March." (Laughter.) Either 
from haste or inexperience the wicks of the lamps were not properly 
adjusted and some of them began to smoke and choke the players so 
that the opening piece came to an abrupt and disastrous ending, and 
they had to readjust the lights, which occupied some time. When they 
were ready to begin again, General Wild had taken off his lamp and 
fastened it to the bow of an apple tree. As he gave the signal for a 
second start the sight was so ludicrous that the members broke down 
again with a burst of laughter. Meanwhile Mr. Williams, to whom 
these serenades were no novelty, had risen and hurriedly dressed 
himself, and rushing down stairs invited the members into the house 
and entertained them in his usual hearty fashion. After the collation 
one of the band suggested that they should continue the serenade 
in the house, where there was a good light. (General Wilde used to 
tell us that he could never forget the eager and fervent way in which 
Mr. Williams assured them that he would not think of troubhng 
them to finish the serenade as he was sure they must have several 
other places where they wanted to go that evening ; so they reluct- 
antly withdrew. (Laughter.) 

I could recall many other interesting stories of this sort about 
General Wild and the Hypnophonians, but this is scarcely the 
time for doing so. 

I trust I am guilty of no impropriety, on this solemn occasion, in 
venturing to speak of what was really one of the most charming 
characteristics of General Wild. It is surely pleasant to feel, as 
we gaze at the portrait of this hero looking so stern and soldier-like, 
that he had always with him, when off duty, this healthy and genuine 
sense of humor to shed its sunlight on his pathway through life. 
(Applause.) 



Remarks of Shattuck Hartwell. 



Mr. Chairman : 

I ask pardon for my rather tardy response to your call upon me, 
and I can only plead in excuse that it took me quite by surprise, 
as I had not expected to speak here tonight, but came as a listener 
only. And I have listened with the deepest interest to the felicit- 
ous remarks of previous speakers, especially to your own admirable 
address. 

My friendship with Edward A. Wild was such, and so lasting, my 
associations with him so peculiar, that I hardly dare trust myself to 
speak of them in this presence, but I cannot be wholly silent now, 
at your renewed call. My acquaintance with him began quite early 
in our freshman year, and my first distinct remembrance of him is of 
being in his room, in Stoughton Hall, when Rev. Dr. Pierce called 
upon him, and of being very greatly impressed by the evidently tender 
interest of that venerable gentleman in his young parishioner, and 
by Wild's frank and cordial manner with the good doctor. Later in 
that first freshman term. Wild invited me to his delightful home in 
your beautiful town, and from that time through our whole college 
course, and also later while I was still at Harvard, I was always made 
most cordially welcome to its genial and generous hospitality. .And 
while memory lasts I can never forget my many pleasant hours and 
associations in his charming family. 

In college, Wild held excellent rank as a classical scholar and was 
greatly distinguished in mathematics — especially in the higher 
mathematics. Indeed, no one in the class surpassed him in natural 
aptitude or genius for the higher mathematics, and therein was his 
especial forte. Those terse words of his defiant reply to Fitz- 



27 

Hugh Lee's summons to surrender, — " We'll Iry tJuit !'' — \ have 
often heard from him when confronting an obscure passage in Latin 
or Greek, or before his always successful grapple with some diffi- 
cult mathematical problem. And when in the papers of that time 
I read his reply to Lee, I said, exultingly, to my family, — "That's 
the same Ned Wild of our class ! " As a writer in the class his 
style was clear, logical and terse, sparing of rhetoric and wasting 
no words. He would sometimes surprise his friends, and his own 
family, indeed, by some entirely unexpected achievement. A 
notable one, of which I was a glad witness, was when he brought 
home from Philadelphia, either at Thanksgiving or at Christmas, his 
medical degree, won upon a brilliant examination and a full year in 
advance of the regular course. His medical father's exultant pride 
was quite phenominal to hear and see. Wild had tried that feat, 
too, and won as usual. 

In any emergency he was one of the readiest and most alert, — 
level-headed always. For instance, in the last term of our senior 
year at Har\-ard, on June 17th, then a holiday, Wild and three others 

of us, classmates, took a long ride on horseback, and returning from 

« 
Brookline into Boston, at evening, we were passing over the Milldam 

when we saw, and seeing, watched in the bright moonlight a small 
sailboat heading directly toward that highway, and not far distant. 
Suddenly one of our party. Wild I think, shouted, " She's capsized ! " 
as the fact was, in tacking with rather a stiff breeze. We rode at 
full speed to the landing at Braman's bath-house, left our four horses 
in charge of the nen-ofts man of the party, the others sprang into a 
boat, Wild leading, pulled swiftly to the floating boat and took from 
her upturned keel three men, somewhat water-soaked and rather 
more sober than they had been, apparently, under sail. 

Again, and more notably, he was with the very foremost, in 1861, 
when he so promptly volunteered, after the fall of Fort Sumter, 
raised and led to the front Company A of the First Massachusetts 
Regiment, literally the initial company of that great array of Massa- 
chusetts Volunteers. Wild's military ser\aces and success were 
matters of great pride and rejoicing among his classmates. After 
his wounds in battle on the Peninsula and the lo.ss of his arm at 



28 

South Mountain, the class gave him an elegant dress sword. And 
in this year, they have placed in Memorial Hall at Harvard a 
beautiful medallion in bronze, commemorative of his battles. 

I count it my good fortune to have been for a brief time his guest 
in camp, when he was in command at Newport News, in the early 
autumn of 1.S64, and later, in the last campaign before Richmond ; to 
have shared his headquarters at the front, nominally of his staff but 
without rank. Ami I must always regret that a summons home, on 
leave of absence, because of serious illness in my family, lost me the 
honor of riding into Richmond with him, at the head of the. 2Sth 
Army Corps, Colored Troops, among the foremost, if not truly the 
first to enter the fallen city. 

But I must not longer test your patience. I rejoice sincerely in 
this fit occasion, and that I can share it with you, his fellow-citizens 
of Brookline. I am glad indeed to see this life-like portrait of your 
gallant soldier and good citizen, my beloved classmate and friend, 
given such place of honor in your public library, and I trust it will 
remain there while these walls endure, an incentive to manly duty, 
whether military or civil, and commemorative of an unselfish and 
noble life. 




GRAVE OF GENERAL WILD, 
Al Medellin. Colombia, Soulh Amefica. 



013 



